HRC Blog

Secretary of Education Addresses LGBT Youth Summit

Last week, in the video below, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the first LGBT Youth Summit in Washington, DC. In the video, the Secretary highlights an upcoming letter from the Department of Education that will affirm the right of students to form Gay-Straight Alliances under the Equal Access Act.

Ellen Kahn, Director of HRC’s Family Project, attended the Summit and blogged about her experience.

Other breaking news from the Summit included the release of a ground breaking study by the Center for Disease Control that found LGBT youth are engaging in unhealthy risk behavior at higher rates than heterosexual peers. Reasons such as homophobia, stigma, and family rejection have been attributed to this disparity.